In the past, the author discussed to some length how privacy shields and allows people to gain freedom that under the eyes of society would be impossible. Those words describe the essence of privacy and why it is so important today.

To review, privacy is right to take a particular action that has no effect on the public at-large, without the public at-large experiencing it. There are many reasons for denying such knowledge to the public such as the action is embarrassing, not socially acceptable, or possibly even illegal.

Privacy could hide almost anything that's not socially relevant, such as a medical condition that effects you only, your family relationships, the kind of materials you enjoy reading, or how you choose to spend your free time. Indeed, all those actions will effect others and the society in one way or another, but is the effect compelling enough to make the information public?

Having consensual gay sex with your partner does not seem like particularly relevant societal interest, but abusing your child or your cow certainly is a relevant interest. After all, it's non-consensual and society feels as though the general welfare of all Americans must be protected. All too often privacy shields society from ever knowing what you do to your cows or child. Government could impose inspectors on your barnyard and your bedroom, but that would be way too invasive for comfort.

Another issue noted in a previous article was that privacy leads to uneven justice. When some people can hide their actions, and others have their actions exposed to the public it leads to unbalanced and unfair punishment. This seems to be rather unfair to those who get caught, versus those who get away with certain actions through the vale of privacy.

Privacy seems to be implicit in some parts of society. We can't monitor everybody, and we don't want to monitor every action. Privacy today seems to be an unfair notion, but at the same time, it allows us to be more free and not have our whole lives under complete secrecy.